Aviators knot series with Whalers

DANBURY, Conn. – Chris Campanale scored the game-winning goal 8:32 into the third period and Jo St. Pierre stopped 44 shots as the Brooklyn Aviators defeated the Danbury Whalers 5-2 to tie their best-of-three series at one game each on Saturday night.
 

Campanale had three points on the night to pace the A’s offense in the victory.
 
Devin Guy opened the scoring in game two for the Whalers in the first period, after his wrist shot from the slot beat St. Pierre high over the glove at the 11:27 mark.  Down 1-0, Brooklyn continued to pepper Danbury goalie Peter Vetri with quality chances, however the FHL’s Rookie of the Year stood tall turning aside all 10 shots he faced. 
 
Campanale would tie it for Brooklyn, 1-1, with his breakaway tally 2:56 into the second period.  After a dump in by the Whalers went right onto St. Pierre, Ken Trentowski hit Campanale with a home run pass at the Danbury blue line.  Campanale then broke in on Vetri and lifted a backhand over the netminder’s right pad.  Brooklyn then capitalized on a turnover in the slot as Jason Dolgy roofed a loose puck over the right shoulder of Vetri to give the Aviators the 2-1 lead with 13:23 left in the middle frame. 
 
Alex Goupil, though, tied the contest for Danbury – once again – on a one timer from the right wing circle with just 1:02 left in the second to set up another dramatic period.
 
Late in the third period, and on the power play, Jesse Felten would give the A’s an extra boost with his blast from the left wing circle that got past the left arm of Vetri putting Brooklyn up 4-2.  Mike Thomson added the icing on the cake, as his late tally with 2:23 left in the game put the A’s up for good 5-2.
 
Vetri suffers his first loss despite putting aside 35 shots in the contest.
 
These two teams will face off tomorrow evening in the deciding game three at 5:05 PM at the Danbury Ice Arena. 
 
The winner will move on to the FHL’s Semi-Final round starting next week.








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